India is discussing age-based restrictions with social media companies, IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said Tuesday, following moves by Australia and other countries to ban young teens from popular platforms. Australia has since December required TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat and a host of other top social media services to remove accounts held by under-16s, or face heavy fines. Last month, French lawmakers passed a bill that would ban social media use for under-15s, which awaits a Senate vote before becoming law. “Right now we are in a conversation regarding deepfakes, regarding age-based restrictions with the various social media platforms and... what is the right way to go about this,” he said. India last week tightened rules regulating artificial intelligence technology, requiring social media platforms to clearly label AI content and comply with takedown requests by authorities within three hours.

Source: Dhaka Tribune February 17, 2026 10:44 UTC